One Health for All – prevent rabies through vaccination
Johannesburg, 21 September 2023 – The global theme for this year’s World Rabies Day, which takes place on 28 September, is ‘Rabies: All for 1, One Health for All.’ The theme is a nod to Alexandre Dumas’s celebrated novel, The Three Musketeers, a story that famously champions how a team of individuals can overcome strife and injustice to achieve their goals.
This year’s theme builds on the 2022 success of One Health, Zero Deaths, which focused on how to achieve the Global Alliance for Rabies Control’s (GARC) goal of “Zero by 30” which means zero deaths by 2030, and One Health speaks to this.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that rabies causes 59 000 human deaths per year. 95% of these cases occur in Africa and Asia, and because the WHO believes there is extreme under-reporting, the actual fatality rates are probably much higher. Tragically, poor rural populations are disproportionately affected, with approximately half of cases attributable to children under 15 years of age.[1]
According to South Africa’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases, there were 13 laboratory-confirmed and six probable cases of human rabies reported in 2022, a small decrease compared to the 19 laboratory-confirmed and four probable cases reported in 2021.[2] While any rabies case is one too many given the high mortality rates of the diseases, both animal and human rabies can be prevented, and this is what this year’s theme speaks to—a strong focus on collaboration, equality, and the strengthening of health systems to reach GARC’s goal of zero deaths from this fatal but preventable disease.
“Rabies is a dangerous zoonotic disease that is nearly 100% fatal once clinical symptoms manifest. Immediate treatment post-exposure is the only way to prevent the onset of the disease in humans, making awareness and quick action vital,” says Dr Tarryn Dent, Business Unit Lead: Companion Animals at Zoetis South Africa (Zoetis), a global animal health company. “The good news is that rabies is also preventable through widespread dog vaccinations, awareness campaigns, and early post-exposure prophylaxis following a bite or exposure to saliva from a suspected rabid animal before any symptoms manifest.”
According to the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH), every nine minutes someone dies from rabies.[3] “Awareness is the most important thing we can achieve together: awareness around what to do if you’re bitten by a potentially rabid animal and why it’s so important to vaccinate pets,” says Dent. “The WOAH is clear that rabies can end through the widespread vaccination of dogs. We know that there are hundreds of thousands of stray dogs and wild animals across South Africa that can carry rabies, therefore vaccinating companion animals is still incredibly important.
“Keeping our pets healthy and protecting them from rabies through vaccination ensures their survival but it also stops the disease from spreading. If an infected animals bites a vaccinated animal, the disease can go no further,” says Dent.
How to get involved
Under this year’s ‘All for 1, One Health for All’ theme, there are a few impactful things individuals can do to work towards the elimination of rabies:
Celebrate World Rabies Day 2023 by vaccinating your companion animal and advocating for dog vaccination.
Educate your network around rabies and dog vaccinations through social media channels.
Whatever your activity of choice, under One Health, every person who gets involved can make a difference towards our one goal – zero deaths in 2030.
“This is an opportunity to work together to make One Health available to all,” says Dent. “Eliminating rabies will have a huge impact on the health and wellbeing of our entire society.”
Learn more about rabies from the following websites:
https://rabiesalliance.org/world-rabies-day
http://www.rabiescontrol.org/